The Van Pelt readies fifth album Remain Obscure with lead single “Kris Is Riding Horses In Ojai”

“Kris Is Riding Horses In Ojai” sits within a 11-track set recorded between 2024 and 2025 at Retromedia Sound Studios in New Jersey with engineer Adam Vaccarelli. Core members Sean Greene, Chris Leo, Brian Maryansky, and Neil O’Brien are joined throughout by a handful of guests: Liam Bornowski contributes pedal steel, MJ Hancock adds saxophone synth, while Sarah Schimeneck sings and Alicia Testa plays piano. The expanded instrumental lineup pushes the band’s quintessential sound into subtly unfamiliar shapes without losing the murky, literate tension that has always defined them. The NYU-founded group first emerged in the mid-1990s, releasing a pair of well-regarded records inspired by Slint and Television via the NJ indie label Gern Blandsten Records before disbanding. They resurfaced quietly in the 2010s and returned with Artisans & Merchants in 2023, their first album in over two decades. Remain Obscure deepens that reactivated chemistry across a tracklist that evokes a collection of short stories: “Linens Should Be Freshly Pressed”, “City of Dead Ends”, and “Death by a Solid Argument” all suggest the wry, observational MO that has run through Leo’s writing since his earlier...